Tenacious
Merchant’s Way
Jangling Coin Pouch
Sense
Cost: 1 mote
Duration: 10 minutes per success
Type: Simple
Minimum
Temperance: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
With a successful Perception + Bureaucracy
roll made by his player, the user of this Arcanos can
detect the existence of nearby money, whether its “real” money minted by a
kingdom of the living or dead, burned sacrificial “hell money” sent to the
Underworld by suitably pious descendants of the dead or Essence-minted money
created by one of the other Arcanoi in this art.
Jangling Coin Pouch Sense lasts for 10
minutes per success rolled, but during its duration, it only enables the user
to detect actual money — not mere valuables, gems or jewelry, but money that
may be used in exchange for goods or services or in payment of taxes.
Earnest Creditor Technique
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Compassion: 1
Minimum Essence: 1
Prerequisite
Charms: None
The wise merchant knows when to extend
credit to a favored customer — the kind of customer who will bring plenty of
business back to the merchant over the long run. This Arcanos
allows a ghost to give Essence to another entity — ghost, mortal, god or Exalt.
The ghost need only touch the subject of the Arcanos,
and the subject receives 2 motes of Essence. The ghost may use this Arcanos as often as he likes, on whichever subjects he
likes, and it may be used multiple times upon the same subject. The subject does
not need to be willing, but if for some reason he is not, the ghost must
succeed in touching the subject before transferring the Essence.
Careful Debtor Stance
Cost: 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Conviction: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Earnest Creditor
Technique
The wise customer takes on only as much
debt as he knows he can afford to pay back. This Arcanos
allows a ghost merchant to take motes of Essence from a willing creditor. The
ghost and the subject must touch one another to enact this Arcanos.
The subject of the Charm must be willing — if he is in any way resistant to the
transfer of Essence, the Arcanos automatically fails.
The ghost may take as many motes of Essence as his player achieves successes on
a Conviction + Bureaucracy roll.
Bold Thief’s Way
Cost: 3 motes
Duration: Instant
Type: Reflexive
Minimum
Conviction: 2
Minimum Essence: 2
Prerequisite
Charms: Jangling Coin Pouch
Sense
Unlike Careful Debtor Stance, Bold Thief’s
Way enables a ghost-thief or unethical ghost-merchant to steal Essence from an
unwilling target. Any time the ghost comes into contact with another entity
(ghost, god, mortal or Exalt) he may reflexively take Essence from them by
spending 3 motes and his player rolling Conviction + Larceny. The ghost takes 1
mote for every success on this roll (so unless his intention is simply to drain
the target of Essence, he had better get at least three successes). The ghost
may not use this ability if he hits a target with a melee weapon. He must hit
with a Brawl or Martial Arts attack.
Redirected Prayer
Path
Cost: 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Temperance: 2
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Jangling Coin Pouch
Sense
Living descendants of ghosts who have
sufficient filial piety to remember and honor their ancestors often make
sacrifices to their ancestors’ ghosts. These sacrifices become Essence and
Willpower in the Underworld. Each such sacrifice appears in the Underworld as a
black-jade token inscribed with the name of the ghost for whom it is intended.
The token appears in the Underworld location corresponding with the spot in
Creation at which the sacrifice is performed. A canny ghost with Redirected
Prayer Path can intercept these sacrifices.
While standing within five yards of the
Underworld spot where the token arrives, the ghost can spend Willpower and
activates this Charm. The black jade token appears, with this ghost’s name
inscribed on it, and for all intents and purposes, the token and its contents
are considered to be his.
If two or more ghosts use this Charm
simultaneously, each one’s player must make a Manipulation + Larceny roll. The
ghost achieving the most successes wins, and the token is inscribed with his
name.
Cannibal Call
Cost: 1 Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Temperance: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Bold Thief’s Way
Ghosts have a difficult time healing
damage. Typically, they must use Arcanoi or enter
Slumber to do so. Cannibal Call allows a ghost to heal damage by biting another
ghost and literally devouring its corpus. This requires a successful bite
attack (if the ghost has no special abilities that enable a bite attack like an
animal’s bite, the bite is at –3 speed, 0B damage and -2 accuracy and defense,
and if using Exalted Power Combat, its rate is 3). If the ghost succeeds, he
heals one health level for every two health levels damage
done to the target.
Secret Imperial Mint
Technique
Cost: 2 motes per dot, 1
Willpower
Duration: Instant
Type: Simple
Minimum
Temperance: 3
Minimum Essence: 3
Prerequisite
Charms: Bold Thief’s Way
This Arcanos
turns Essence into coinage. To properly replicate the local coin, the ghost’s
player rolls Intelligence + Larceny, and the ghost spends as many motes of
Essence as he wishes, to a maximum of his Temperance. If the player succeeds in
the roll, the ghost creates a pile of local coinage sufficient to provide a bonus
to his Resources level equal to one dot per 2 motes of Essence spent. This is a
temporary Resources level (though the coinage is permanent) — it is sufficient to
make a single purchase at that Resources level.
Once that purchase is made, the coinage is
disbursed into the population, and the ghost reverts to his normal Resources
Background (which represents his sustainable income).